News Hub: WSJ Reporter Staked Out in the Capitol

WSJ's Kelly Evans and Neal Lipschutz ask Washington reporter John McKinnon to describe his weekend reporting from the halls of the Capitol Building.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

go ... we ... don't enjoy ... now in the euro John ... I I still opening at that point ... you know you know her in a few days now than ... at ... any given point then ... I hear what what were the biggest surprises in terms of the agreement struck in what most most importantly ... doing to watch for the Nexteer GTDC does indeed ... well I think the biggest surprise in terms of what it looked like he is not how much it looked like the deal they had a week ago ... um you know which certainly makes a lot of people think well how come we could never reach this deal week ago ... um it's a lot like ... the planned that ... the two leaders ... and the president negotiated ... and now eight days ago ... but ultimately decided they couldn't quite agree on ... um ... you know he gives a little bit of both sides is I think ... you probably realize it ... doesn't have any tax increases which is some Republicans wanted ... it's it's essentially a one stage process although it's chopped up into several parts ... um that's something that the president wanted you wanted ... essentially the assurance that he would have to get through this ... kind of banks ... I can next year or during an election year ... um to raise the debt ceiling again um ... and it's ... guy Chazan and I'm not actually holding and the taxes that are based facts of the budget ... control Act agreement I ... feel I don't know what what are calling this year but after four men of the Dodd Frank I guess ... what as you run through the details of this agreement I jumps out your what you think are to be the real sticking point series is that John B and others try to make sure this thing done ... well in the next couple of ... days to release that ... it could be done today but not the big sticking point is defense appropriations and that that essentially defense cuts ... thereafter he made to comply with this agreement Republicans are ... especially sensitive about that although both sides worry about defense spending ... on because they have a lot of ... defense plants scattered around the country in all their districts and they have a lot of ... constituents who work for defense companies so that's the big sticking point right now is whether House Republicans in particular can ... swallow this defense cuts ... John utensil Weekend billion capital to what was the atmosphere like what we do people really felt ... as some reports we've we've read from you when others coming out of there ... that you know that that they really were on the break in and was there a sense that ... you know where it's somehow someway we gotta get a deal here to avoid default ... yet there was to really kind of AEI art is almost as sickening kind of honor We on Saturday because ... you know it just seemed like no progress was being made ... and yet were now Wi Fi and a couple of days three days of the deadline ends up on Saturdays ... and there was um lot of concern that that despite the fact that of Leader McConnell said he was talking to the president ... the initial reaction we got back from Democrats was ... there's nothing new on the table no progress is actually being made so that when I was actually thinking about leaving ... around seven but can ... you know we began to get the idea that ... from from some source is ... that there are actually worsen substantive negotiations going on ... so um I stuck around and and um you are wound up being ... the beginning of a big deal it was obvious that ... um McConnell had made an offer that ... represented some progress to the White House and a white asking back with an offer to buy it actually ... had more progress ... so it's really said in the evening when when ... finally look like ... this the sides were getting to the point where ... they can find something that they can agree on ... yet it wasn't until about eight o'clock then there was really a strong indication that there was progress being made ... and then I think around ten o'clock um ... me to read ... the majority leader said that he was postponing the vote and that's when people really ... began to realize that ... no serious negotiations were ... underway and I'm sorry go ahead and junkies quickly clarified August second at midnight is that actually did the deadline here what what me how much legitimacy is there and in what the Treasury last Update continued to insist that are ... no I think that that's really an open question even some Democratic ... lawmakers have said ... that they think there's some wiggle room there although ... he did the administration by marchers tried to ... to make it clear that they think that's really ... the heart of RealD as a hard deadline ... so I think that that contributed to that ... you know that the expectation in markets that there would be ... a deal By Dan and I think ultimately that was what ... was driving people to come together over the weekend they were just concerned ... even if that's not a real deadline somehow we can get by a few more days White House if they were concerned about the part of the action certainly the deadline is is very close to this not exactly the second ... half but now John attention I guess turns now specifically in the house ... to counting votes right and to see if this is ... after all this and in the long weekend ... whether in fact this can devote you looted before to logistically the vote could come today but that ... has not yet been determined when ... the Senate and the House will vote ... I've ... been at the Senate is definitely voting today in a house is going to try to vote nominate you know are hoping to wrap it up by midnight that they ... now says Stephen Leisel going through that with counting ... um to determine if they've got ... um all the posts they need and all the Republican votes they need and that's another element here ... Speaker banner on has probably been under more pressure Zandi body year ... and um he's still got to find ... um all lot of Republican votes for this ... of ... this package are a Democrat John it'll be an unusual coalition right and it could turn into a new unusual ... coalition of moderates perhaps with people on the left ... and people on the furthest right ... not joining in the house ... Yeh that's right ... and that was the way that the vote over the pond continuing resolution revenues ... the Government Shutdown fight that we had back in April ... that's the way that eventually came out there was up by partisans circle unusual bipartisan coalition in the house ... yet and I you wanna just quickly touch it back on track on the Journal today about the committee's involved here ... the committee's but in the process here is an extremely convoluted and ... up ... and and they're really demanding more of this process than ever have in the past but essentially there relying on process is that they've tried before ... um sequestration is the isthe fancy term for it essentially what it means is ... there um gonna try and reach an agreement through this super committee ... on in future you know like roughly ... trillion and a half dollars for the cuts ... if that super committee ... can reach an agreement and they would have served automatic more alas across the board cuts ... and ... that's been tried before with very mixed results ... but now they're essentially asking the process to ... um so were you know a trillion and a half dollars in cuts spread them over a decade it's a tremendously complicated task and and and at last question any rumors or word yet on who might be comprising his twelve person committee that it has the task of finding the strength ... of by sometime in November ... up ... there not a lot of names floating around yet but certainly there was a widespread expectation ... last week ... among Democrats and Republicans that we've we've pretty much the hardliners ... from both sides are that the expectation was there really wouldn't be an agreement ... by this super committee and therefore ... it really was quite quite possible that the sequestration would take place ... so will see I mean there is certainly names that people ... can come up with ... up for hardliners on each side of some of the hardliners were on the Simpson Bowles Commission then ... we could see some of those folks again ... 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